CuO/ZnO/Ga2O3 catalyst for low temperature MSR reaction: Synthesis, characterization and kinetic model

•Two kinetic models were used to describe the MSR reaction over the novel catalyst.•A novel CuO/ZnO/Ga2O3 catalyst was successfully synthesized by co-precipitation.•Physicochemical analyses suggested very small and highly dispersed Ga particles.•The novel catalyst displayed a catalytic activity higher than commercial catalysts.

Highly active catalysts for the methanol steam reforming (MSR) capable of operating efficiently at the same temperature of high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (HTPMFCs) devices are strongly desired. A novel CuO/ZnO/Ga2O3 catalyst was synthesized by co-precipitation method and characterized by ICP-AES, N2-physisorption, SEM-EDX and XRD. This catalyst showed a catalytic activity 2.2 times higher than commercial CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts at 453 K Two kinetic models one empirical and one mechanistic were applied to describe the methanol steam reforming reaction over one of the most promising catalyst family.